Deebo Samuel still feels confident that the 49ers can win the NFC West

This has not been the season that fans were expecting from the San Francisco 49ers after they took the eventual defending champion Kansas City Chiefs to overtime in the Super Bowl nine months ago. The hope was that the team would be right back in the big game again a year later but right now, the Niners are closer to missing out on the postseason altogether than they are to repeating as NFC champs.

Deebo Samuel recently insisted that his team is better than what their 5-6 record indicates and had faith that the 49ers could still win the division. Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated asked Samuel about the Niners' chances of winning the division and the wide receiver still seemed confident that his guys could get it done.

"We still look at is as our backs against the wall because at the end of the day we're 5-6 right now and we're better than what the record shows, for sure. Yeah our backs our against the wall, but at the end of the day we're one game away from winning our division. So we keep that in our heads, but at the end of the day you still want to stack wins."

Deebo Samuel still thinks the 49ers can win the division

Following their Week 12 loss to Green Bay, the 49ers dropped to 5-6 and are in fourth place in their division and four spots outside of the NFC playoffs. Their playoff chances are at 16% and drop to 11% if they lose to the Bills this weekend.

The good news is that the NFC West is still very much in reach for San Francisco. The Seahawks lead the division with a 6-5 record trailed by the Cardinals, also with a 6-5 record, and the Rams and 49ers are in third and fourth with 5-6 records. If the Niners get hot at the right time, they can absolutely still win the division and sneak into the playoffs and hopefully make some noise.

The problem has been that the team is banged up and doesn't look to be getting healthy anytime soon. As soon as Christian McCaffrey came back, Brock Purdy then had to miss a game. It's been unfortunate seeing a team with so much potential and talent struggle through the first 12 weeks but that's the nature of the NFL.

Let's hope that Samuel is right and this team starts living up to its potential soon.